Holiday Stress Busters: Tips & Techniques

“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.”   — Lena Horne

The holidays are here and we’re moving into them facing troubling times both at home and abroad. In addition to these two sources of stress there are the deeply personal ones like our relationships with family, friends, and professional situations. The mental and emotional fallout from any one of these sources is difficult enough without the added stress of the holidays. Whatever your holidays look like, this added level of stress can feel like ‘just too much.’ How to deal and cope? We all need huge doses of three self-care medicines: resilience, patience and laughter. 

Resilience
Embodying resilience is one way to manage anxiety, reduce stress, and get clear about what we can do to get through the next few months – or maybe years. Resilience is the ability to rebound quickly from a crisis, tragedy, trauma or a serious case of ‘stress mess.’ Highly resilient people won’t fall apart easily, and when we do (cause’ we will!), it won’t be for long. Why? Resilient folk call on their inner resources and ask for outside help when it’s needed. They ‘tweak’ their expectations to fit any and all new realities.

Not surprisingly, research has found that resiliency varies from person to person due to a variety of factors, including genetics, but like any skill, resiliency can be learned. Resilient people tend to share several common characteristics.

Resilient People

• Know how to handle their emotions
• Keep calm in stressful situations
• Are empathetic
• Cultivate self-awareness
• Practice acceptance
• Practice self-care

The difference between those who are more resilient and those who are less resilient, may be in how self-aware the person is and how they put resilience into action. It’s recommended that we build our capacity for resilience before we face difficulty. If we are working on living healthier in body, mind and spirit, we’ve been building resilience right along with self-awareness and peace of mind.

Patience
Patience is the ability to endure difficult circumstances. It helps us exhibit perseverance in the face of delay; tolerance of provocation without responding with annoyance and anger; or forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with long-term difficulties. And oh, boy, these days that can resonate loud and strong.

There are many benefits to patience as a value, a virtue and a practice.
Patient people:

• Have better overall physical and mental health
• Make better friends and neighbors
• Are more effective at planning and working toward goals

Developing a patience practice is useful, but it’s a real struggle for some people. If you are like me, you’ve had your patience tested and more than likely, the results were negative. So it needs to be on a ‘to-do’ list for regular practice.

Laughter
My last suggestion is to bring more laughter into your life, because laughter is medicine and we all need huge daily doses. A sense of humor helps. Do you have one? I hope so! A sense of humor is defined as the ability to perceive, appreciate or express what is funny, amusing or ludicrous. Having a sense of humor means being able to laugh at, or at least see the humor in life's absurdities. And with global warming and political storming, we have all the absurdities we can handle at the moment. The Mayo clinic lists several benefits. Laughter can:

• Enhance your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulate your heart, lung and muscles and increase the endorphins that are released by your brain.
• Activate and relieve your stress response.
• Stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.

Personally, I make it a point to laugh every day. It always makes me feel better no matter what absurdity or problem might be present or looming – and there is always something! I DVR The Daily Show (political satire), and Saturday Night Live (cultural & political satire)  - see a pattern here? I get my laughs by watching one or more of the shows after my morning yoga practice. By the time I have finished my breakfast, I’ve had my share of belly laughs, increased my endorphin flow and set a positive outlook for the day - well, most of the time – it’s a process and some days are better than others, but at least I put in the effort.

Holiday Stress Busters
Here are two easy, accessible techniques for dealing with holiday stress.

The Relaxation Breath is a breath practice that does five things at the same time. It:

• Brings your attention to your breath
• Allows you to take fewer breaths per minute
• Lengthens your exhalation
• Calms the nervous system
• Reduces stress

Regular practice can help you short cut your response to unhelpful stress.

Instructions
1. Sit with your spine comfortably aligned. 
2. Soften your chest and shoulders. 
3. Close your eyes or keep them slightly open with a downward gaze.
4. Inhale normally. Exhale normally. 
5. After exhaling, hold your breath out and silently count “one thousand one, one thousand two.”
6. Repeat and continue for 2-3 minutes or longer if you are comfortable.  

If you practice regularly, you will be able to use this technique in situations when you must stand and keep your eyes open.

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Hakini mudra

This ‘yoga for your hands’ technique is said to bring forth a state of balance and integration. If your fingers won’t cooperate due to stiff joints, arthritis or amputation – visualize it.
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Instructions:
1. Sit with your spine comfortably aligned. 
2. Soften your chest and shoulders.
3. Hold your hands facing each other a few inches away from your solar plexus.
4. Touch the tips of the fingers and thumb of your left hand to the corresponding fingers and thumb of your right hand.
5. Create space between your hands as though you are holding a small ball.
6. Relax your hands and forearms on your lap. 
7. Close your eyes or keep them slightly open with a downward gaze.
8. Hold the mudra and sit quietly for 2 - 5 minutes as long as you are comfortable.
9. Focus on your natural breathing process. 
10. When you are ready to come out, release the mudra and stretch your body in any way that your body needs to stretch.

Hope this helps you navigate your holidays!

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